Quote:
Originally Posted by Botnst
...His proposal was made after co-valedictorians and cousins Hue and Cindy Vo, whose parents emigrated from Vietnam, gave parts of their commencement speeches in Vietnamese during Ellender High School's graduation ceremony.
Cindy Vo translated her single sentence in Vietnamese, telling her classmates it was a command to always be your own person. Hue Vo spoke a bit longer in her parents' language, without translation, said board president Clark Bonvillain and schools superintendent Ed Richard.
"I don't like them addressing in a foreign language. They should be in English," Pitre said during a recent committee meeting...
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The Vo family sounds like a classic American success story to me. My reaction to their speeches (at least as described in the article) was the exact opposite of Mr. Pitre's reaction. Their use of their parents' native language was a nice touch and particularly appropriate in the context of valedictory speeches.
Louisiana has funny politics. To those of us who have only visited the southern part of the state, Louisiana seems like a wide-open, anything goes kind of place, but the voters down there seem to favor some of the most closed-minded politicians.